Marks of Effective Evangelism - Plan
We continue our series of marks of effective evangelism.
Plan
If you do not plan, you plan to
fail. We must have a strategy and a plan
to reach those who are lost. Jesus and Paul both began their ministry in the
synagogue as was their custom (Luke 4:16, Acts 17:2). They both started trying to convince the Jews
from the Scriptures before moving to the Gentiles. Jesus encouraged the disciples to look for a
person of peace in a different town or village as a starting point of the
gospel (Luke 10). Paul reminds his
followers that Christians are the aroma of Christ who are being saved and who
are perishing. As people are open to the
aroma of life, we should continue to minister to them.
Jesus used the ministry of
hospitality to engage with the lost.
Jesus is known for receiving sinners and eating with them (Luke 5, Luke
15, Luke 19). Elders are called to be
hospitable. Although not exclusively referencing bringing people into one’s
home, but certainly including it in the lifestyle of a pastor. Peter charges the church to practice
hospitality without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9).
The early church was known for using the home as a means for fellowship
and evangelism. Acts 2:42-47,
And they devoted
themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs
were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and
had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and
belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by
day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received
their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with
all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were
being saved (emphasis added).
The early church was bringing
people into their homes and eating with one another and the Lord added people
day by day to those who were being saved.
The home was the center of evangelism in the early church.
We have to start thinking and
planning as missionaries. Missionaries
live in hostile environments and are strategic in their work for the
gospel. We use the ministry of the home
to bring people to Christ. In our
anti-institutional, anti-authoritative society the home is going to be vital to
reach people in this generation. We must
plan to use our homes as a ministry for the gospel. Jesus said that unless you renounce all that
you have you cannot be my disciple.
Renounce that your home is your home.
Your home no longer belongs to you primarily, but belongs to God. Use your home to fulfill the Great Commission
to make disciples. Break bread with the
lost introducing them to Jesus and break bread with fellow believers reminding
one another of the great and precious promises of God’s Word.
What if during our Wednesday or
Sunday night service people were freed up to practice biblical
hospitality? What if we sent laborers
into the harvest field of Rock Hill as missionaries once a week? What if we developed a plan to send some out
and to hold the rope through prayer and giving?
If we do not plan, we plan to fail.
God wants us to think strategically, as Jesus and Paul did, to reach our
crooked and depraved generation with the power of the gospel.